Vintage River Bridge..........

[Kelley (Texas)]

This abandoned river bridge spans the San Antonio River on old County Road 117 in Wilson County near Floresville, Texas. It was built in 1890, and abandoned in 1986 when replaced by a modern concrete bridge built beside it. I noticed that it has a wood plank floor and many planks were missing or coming loose. It is presently fenced off from the public.

The picture was taken with a Sony A200 DSLR with a vintage Minolta 35-105mm lens, f11, 1/80 sec., ISO 100, Aperture Priority Mode, no tripod, taken on 10-28-12. Kelley (Texas)

[attachment 247676 006_rrbridge10-28-12_2.jpg]

 

[Nestor Cerpa]

Mighty nice BRIDGE shot, Kelley! I love old bridges. Surprised that they didn't demolish it when they built the new concrete bridge beside it.

You know, that looks like it could have been a swimming area....down underneath, or, beside it. Wish I lived in Texas... once did back in 1969-70' in the Dallas area. Stationed with the Marine detachment at NAS Dallas at Grand Prairie. If I were still there, I would be packing up the truck for a detecting trip this weekend.

Wonder if it was a CIVIL WAR river crossing before that bridge was built?

NO TRIPOD? You have steady hands. Nice shot.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Why did they not demolish it when they started using the new bridge. I was enroute to Floresville when I spotted it and took a picture. It is fenched off and "Posted" so I did not explore the area, but next time I go to Floresville I will make a stop at the bridge to explore more. Like you, I would think that there had to be some activity at that site and well worth checking out with a metal detector. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Nestor Cerpa]

Kelley, was it posted by government, or, is it private property now? Just wondered and, just out of curiosity, becuase it would be a 15 hour jaunt for me, would like to know more about the site.

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

This link contains some information about the bridge, but does not say who owns it. I would assume that either Wilson County or the State of Texas owns the bridge. I did not notice who had put up the posted sign, but you must enter private property to get to the bridge. Kelley (Texas)

http://bridgehunter.com/tx/wilson/san-antonio-river/

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I sent a picture of this bridge to an old friend of mine, asking him if he knew anything about it. This was his reply. Kelley (Texas)

Mr. Fred,
Funny you would send this pic, I saw this bridge first hand in 1975-76 when it was still in use. I have a
very good friend who was a policeman and came into Toepperwein's when I worked there and he lives on
property out in Floresville and a portion of the San Antonio river comes right through his property. He had
a bridge similiar to that one that I use to cross to get to his house and I was always puckered up as it was
marginal at best and really creaked and groaned when you crossed it. Has since been replaced with concrete.
Once again thanks for the picture. Later. W.Q.

 

[nge]

Nice capture, I am assuming that was a super zoom shot since it was private property. And I am also assuming that you rested your camera hand on something solid. I tried a long shot of some birds one day while out driving around. I didn't get out of my truck, so I rested my camera hands (elbows) on my window frame of my truck, forgot to shut engine off and pics came out blurred. And that was at about 300mm zoom....lol Lesson learned!.......nge

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

mounted on my Sony DSLR. It was taken "hand held" at the lower scale of the focal lenght, between 35 to 40mm. Kelley (Texas)

 

[nge]

I am very bad at figuring all those mathematical measurements, that's why I can't tell you what all my settings were. Besides, when I resize pics, I lose all Exif.....nge